Who We Are

About Glenwood Academy

Glenwood Academy is a revolutionary private residential school that provides a supportive learning community for students grades 2-8, with a high school option at three local partner schools. Working hand-in-hand with parents and caregivers, the Glenwood experience builds the platform children need to be successful students and become outstanding citizens

We provide life-changing situations for students who come from challenging situations, and who have been impacted by poverty, violence, inadequate educational systems, as well as a lack of basic resources, such as food and shelter. Students live onsite Sundays through Fridays in a nurturing environment, away from the violence, poverty and challenging situations that they may have experienced previously. Nearly all students live below or at the poverty line.

Glenwood Academy is a privately funded institution that relies on the generosity of its donors to continuously serve students whose families are most in need of support. In addition to education and the residential component, Glenwood Academy provides extensive extracurricular opportunities and proactive counseling services.

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Female student smiling with blue background behind her

The Learning Resource Center

Glenwood first developed the Learning Resource Center (LRC) to serve the special learning needs of students accepted for admission who need individualized or small group instruction in order to meet their academic potential. Over 50 percent of Glenwood students experience gaps in knowledge due to learning disabilities, frequent school changes and/or attending a low-performing, under-funded school. The LRC provides diagnostic, academic, speech, enrichment and remedial services for students as well as helps regular classroom teachers modify instruction to each child’s particular learning style. Through Glenwood’s Learning Resource Center, students experience academic gains ranging from 6 – 12 months in deficient areas such as math, reading, and language arts within their first year of enrollment and continue to make gains throughout their stay.

Fast Facts about Glenwood Academy

Glenwood Academy is a school that provides life-changing solutions for students from challenging circumstances impacted by poverty, violence, inadequate educational systems or lack of resources, changing the trajectory of their lives through access to increased opportunity. Glenwood Academy is an educational residential academy that strives to eradicate poverty, injustice and inequity.
Recognized by the Illinois State Board of Education, Glenwood Academy is a supportive learning community that offers students and their families a safe haven of combined academic and residential excellence, including a Military Leadership Program that enhances students’ leadership skills by instilling structure and collaboration into everyday life.

As a privately funded institution, Glenwood Academy relies on the generosity of its donors to continuously serve students whose families are most in need of support through its model of academic excellence with stable residential component, extensive extracurricular opportunities and proactive counseling services.

Glenwood Academy is transforming lives by disrupting the status quo and providing for deserving students in Chicagoland what no other school in the area can: around-the-clock safety and support.
The brave, hard-working families, for whom Glenwood Academy is a placement option, and staff members operate in partnership to overcome barriers in education and life situations for 100 percent of Glenwood Academy students.